Bethel man suffers gunshot wound to head; girlfriend jailed

A Pottawatomie County woman was jailed Wednesday on a shooting with intent to kill complaint after her boyfriend was taken to Shawnee’s hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.

Kim Morava

A Pottawatomie County woman was jailed Wednesday on a shooting with intent to kill complaint after her boyfriend was taken to Shawnee’s hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.

Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said deputies were called to the St. Anthony Shawnee Hospital emergency room, where they encountered Wesley Lynn Tucker, 45, with what doctors said was a gunshot wound to the head.

“He would not cooperate — he wouldn’t tell us who did it or where it happened,” Booth said, adding Tucker later became involved in a scuffle with deputies after he tried to leave the hospital without treatment.

Booth said deputies discovered the man’s girlfriend was allegedly involved in the incident so deputies and tribal officers responded to a residence on Stevens Road, south of Waco Road, where the woman reportedly resided.

Initially, Booth said the woman, later identified as Rhonda Shelton, 51, indicated she would not come out peacefully. Several members of law enforcement were on the scene as Investigator Ken VanDuser talked her out of the house, the sheriff said.

Booth said deputies found blood on the back porch and throughout the house, with deputies recovering an M1911-style .45 caliber handgun in the living room.

Spent shell casings were found at the residence as well, Booth said, as investigators tried to determine where the shooting took place.

“There were bullet holes all over the house,” he said, adding they found holes from the living room to the kitchen and also in the bedroom.

“We don’t know if they’re all fresh bullet holes…some appear to be from different calibers,” Booth said, adding deputies don’t know if the pair might have been shooting at each other or what took place in the home.

While deputies worked that scene, deputies with Tucker at the hospital were having difficulties, Booth said, as Tucker didn’t want them to investigate what had happened.

“The victim didn’t want a report…he was belligerent,” Booth said, adding it appeared both Tucker and Shelton had been drinking alcohol.

Despite having a head injury from the gunshot wound, Booth said Tucker was walking and talking at the emergency room. When he was told he needed to be transferred to OU Medial Center in Oklahoma City for further treatment, Booth said Tucker didn’t want to go and tried to refuse medical treatment by leaving the ER.

Deputy Adam Good tried to stop him, Booth said, and “there was a scuffle in the parking lot.”

Knowing Tucker was already injured, but needing to get him under control and back inside for treatment, Booth said Good used a drive-stun taser after Tucker allegedly struck the deputy in the head.

Tucker was transported to the Oklahoma City hospital, where he remained in stable condition late Wednesday and was still awaiting surgery, Booth said.

Shelton was arrested in the case on a shooting with intent to kill complaint and was being held in the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center Wednesday on a $50,000 bond. Formal charges have not been filed.